Media Framing and Representation of Inter-Ethnic Relations. a Case Study on the Babes-Bolyai Table Ofcontents V.4

CEU eTD Collection Advisor: Professor Miklos Sukosd Media framing and representation of inter-ethnic relations. A University case study on theBabes-Bolyai debate In partialfulfillment oftherequirements forthedegree of Nationalism Nationalism Studies Program Central European University Budapest, Hungary Rosu C.Tudor Master ofArts Submitted to 2007 By CEU eTD Collection Appendix 1...... 61 ...... 58 BIBLIOGRAPHY VI. CONCLUSIONS...... 55 V. The Case of the Babes-Bolyai University Debate...... 40 IV. Methodology...... 37 III. Romanian media ...... 31 development after 1989 II. Theoretical ...... 5 Framework I. Introduction...... 3 University debate...... 1 Media framing and representation of inter-ethnic relations. A case study on the Babes-Bolyai Table ofContents V.4. Content analysis...... 46 V.3. Characterization and Profile of Publications...... 45 V.2. Chronology of Events: October 2005; November-December ...... 43 2006 V.1. The History of the Babes-Bolyai University...... 40 III.3. Media logic and news production...... 34 III.2. The Romanian media ...... 32 landscape III.1. The history of the post 1989 ...... 31 Romanian press II.6. Ethnicity-Related Topics –inside the Newsroom...... 27 II.5. Media Frames in the Social Definition of ...... 23 Movements and Identities II.4. Agenda-Setting in Ethnicity-Related Topics...... 20 II.3. Media Behavior and Political ...... 17 Consensus II.2. The Political Actors’ Control vs. the Commercial Development of Media Enterprises II.1. The Marketplace ...... 5 of Ideas ...... 11 V.4.b Interpretation ...... 52 of data collected V.4.a.The Display of Collected Data...... 46 CEU eTD Collection analysis will focus on the representations of the minority group and their demands in this the Babes-Bolyai University has and what are the frames used to report on these events. The I will look into the issue of how much commercial potential do the topic of the break-up of Romanian language. study will analyze eight daily newspapers, seven from Bucharest and one from Cluj, all in framing of debate around the break-upthe of multicultural the Babes-Bolyai University. The developingstandards professional andmedia dynamics influence and therepresentations paper Iwill currentlook notion andhow this breakdown on general the tabloidization, inconcept inmedia Europe of In abstractdeveloping public interest. regard tothe the Eastern the functions of studies or the violent clashes into have degenerated conflict where ethnic more oncases focused eitherhave mediasocieties in on literature transition The current what are mechanismsthe behind the decisions that are beingmade regarding thistopic. and relations issue inter-ethnic how model of bethe of about this astudy with press deals commercial characterized byaverageprofessional The standardsimperatives. and paper will out of dangerthe of political manipulation and have developeda hybrid into model still that is After 15 years since the violent system change, most studies describe the media as being free itsin identity context. newdemocratic the the same time, the Hungarian minority in Romania was going through a process of defining At institutions. independent and democratic into communication mass of channels controlled wassupposed oldto transform the that undergoing state period media atransition werealso identities are being negotiated. In the Romanian case, after the system change of 1989, the It has been stressed by the studies done on this topic that the media represent astage on which I. Introduction CEU eTD Collection analysis. with the results of the analysis of the articles published on this topic in the two periods of The last part of the paper will start with a short history of the Cluj University and continue eightpublications the will be conducted. development. The fourth chapter will indicate the variables on which the content analysis of will The third chapter currentRomanianthe mediapresent landscape its1989 postand newsrooms andhow topics ofinter-ethnic conflicts areregardedinside the newsrooms. Although mainnot the focus of paper, I currentthe will thealso internal debate of dynamics role of mediathe framing andhow does influence the onsocial perceptions movements. agenda-setting debates about the will befocused on the of The secondchapter theoretical part system. ongoing definitionthe movementsof andidentities, Iwill look at mediathe role of preserving the in role media the of studies Mazzoleni’s and Gitlin’s on Focusing messages. media influence to studiesthe onthe post 1990Romanian press andthequestion whichfactors of are the that move will I societies, in transition have myths nationalistic that potential the about debate the The first part of theissue paperdebates from the of from view. Departing a theoretical point sides wereconstructed. the two of therepresentations which mechanisms with the and monitored eightpublications the agendaof the thetopic hadon that importance case, the 4 CEU eTD Collection segmented marketplace possesses the former characteristic, lacking the latter. Ideasexpressed latter. lacking the characteristic, theformer possesses marketplace segmented A debates. the to have access of society members all that also but freely are expressed debatedin arenot ideas to forum open an wholeavailable the public. that fact from the derive this effectiveness for causes The beeffective. very potential to the redefined andnationalistic rally messages,employed byeliteshave looking mass to support, fully functioning, values common and Subsequently,are changing. the state identities the are down, elites for compete At public support. when this stage, democratic institutions are not break to starts media the of monopoly state the when analyses, Ballentine’s and Snyder’s phases of incipient democratization. phases of incipient andunconditional conclude that can freedom of speech cause more problemsin incipient the 1 nationalism of popular outbursts sensible to evolve are to start democracies new is and changed system in whichthe Societies attributed. they are importance the which ideas hasthese arecirculated abig on influence wayinthe which they are received and ethnicother individualsor groups sharedo not that sameethnicity.the from claims the of needs that protection asacommon heritage is nation The pictured goals. national of pursuing costs the into consideration takingnot ledand situation tothe causes that ignoring the or nation, downplaying the poses to external perceived as a group that threat and the institutions of othergroup(s).the This isachieved byexaggerating inventing or the and,groups at create sametime,the meansthe to grouptoclaim for one theterritory, history ofIdeas The Marketplace II.1. II. TheoreticalFramework Jack Snyder and Karen Ballentine base their study on the cases of Yugoslavia and Rwanda A well established marketplace of ideas assures that diverseby groups of ideas assures A views different that marketplace well established Such myths aresold for political andin as environmentthe support advertisements ethnic between differences the toemphasize in mythsorder arecreated Nationalist 1 . According to CEU eTD Collection context of early stages of media of of early stages evolution. context same in the journalists immature by beexploited can nationalism of potential commercial being myths to the pressureswithout The subjected intheirreporting elites. of political nationalist employ may journalists trained poorly where scenario, adifferent explain to fails fightwell portrayedagainst asnot equipped nationalistic to argument the However, drive. this are journalists myths and nationalist of creation for the responsible as those indicated are actors Political elites. bypowerful dominated inacontext place butthese regulation them. of one just is control for fighting elites the of in development of early be andstages can democratization linked role the several factors, with Media media competition. for theopportunity media creates controlled state centralized the of breakdown The businesses. profit-making as be seen also can media Ballentine, and by Snyder depicted as democratization, of stages early the In equation. democratization role inthe important have an whichcanalso factors other andobliterates elite-centered is analysis their scenarios, such only account into By taking conflict. armed in culminating events of series linear a as nationalism explain they that is Ballentine and Snyder of approach the of shortcoming Another elites. by political the control of attempts resist the not can journalists and media inasmuch only but situation, this to contribute also journalists the of media institutions, theabsence media of proper regulation and the weak professional training of organization the that mention They for situation. this accountable actors sole they are the political departinglook onlyatthe for andstruggle elites power, premisethe that theirfrom only However, their analyses appear. likely to more are myths in nationalistic context which ideas. the in one segment fail to reach the rest of the public, or are spread through sources that distort Snyder and Ballentine about speak thepoorly journaliststrained and the lack ofmedia ideasmarket the of creates a highly segmented arguethat Snyder andBallentine 6 CEU eTD Collection the fact that ideas were notdebated in a common forum because each republic developed its 2 opportunity of the break-up of the state monopoly over the media in others countries place, took federation the break-up of in when the already divided were media the Yugoslavia, the region the changeWhile inthecaseof European countries. South-Eastern in from other media the different of the regime was the werevery mediain in the firstchapters, the Yugoslavia As indicate thesamestudies followed. event which createdYugoslavia and the mediahadrole in break-upof the federationthe and inthe war thatthe scholarshipissue on media of into the nationalism and the bringsdiscussion of case institutionsmedia way the and country each of composition ethnic the as such consideration, into were structured before is factors. of where the overall more aninteractions several result the changingpolitical to situation the to elites powerful influence andpoints the attributed equation dilutes of thewhere aviolentconflictdid erupt. not Bringingadditional variables andfactors into the regime. Thebeingvalidated by The unfoldingthe of events. same loses its hypothesis truth value in cases greatestmessagesis justifiedlikeanalyzing Rwanda, when thatof cases Yugoslavia or hypothesis the part of the institution-building, renegotiation of the status of the elites etc. values’,hybridsbut about rather of period values. isin This of factaperiod of transition ‘democratic ‘democracy’ and talkabout we cannot ofdemocratization stages during early the isimplemented and toatransition mediaalso subjected Asseveral process. argue, authors being are values democracy where period in the regime, the of change the after especially in-depthmedia analysishadrequires an also way the developed of before, during and Kemal Kurspahic, in his assessment of the role media had in the Yugoslav drama, points to When speaking about the case of South-Eastern Europe there are several things to take several thingsto are there Europe South-Eastern caseof the When about speaking Attributing to the political actors a high power of influencing the content of media media by the employed are myths nationalistic in which ways specific the Assessing 7 2 . CEU eTD Collection although they might contradict each other, and when the shape of the evolution starts to be to starts evolution the of shape the when and other, each contradict might they although 3 one of the preconditions for the rise of ethnic tensions. own media, which served as a propaganda machine for the nationalistleaders, and this was traditional society to an open society a from democracy, to regime authoritarian an from marketeconomy, to economy centralized itimportantly, does end? transition is from aswitch when East European as defined speaking about transition andperiods a when does and,transition starts period most when to we refer exactly do What itself. of transition concept is the clarification further of addressed only topics is andtherefore ethnicity-related from not this perspective. Thismembers issuesthe not concerninginfluence ethnicvariable of does other groups. only of under-representation the and relations inter-ethnic on reporting in subjective factor a be can professionalism isforthof journalists,the brought by most studies the on Thisalone topic. factors. several on other this depends earlier, and, argued be in directed thesituation as can is which way manipulation one control and Political met. are citizens majority of the the forum to open a of emergence for the ideas and publications and theirnumber anymore of doesnot regulate the state halffor acentury. The experienced profile. Therefore, freedom isof speech something that most journalists in had Europe South-Eastern not at least in theory, the premises for a pluralism mediathe canbea into actually propagandamachine. transformed of level. This relates to the issue of how profitable isfor elites to play the nationalist card theand power relations if that start to consolidate on the internal level as well as on the international SeeBradshaw andStanning, p.11. When speaking about media in newly established democracies, another aspectinneed another democracies, media innewly Whenabout speaking established lack of the namely press, European South-Eastern the of characteristic Another At the same time, media are introduced to a new set of rights and possibilities. The Another noteworthy elementis the ethnic composition of the countries in question and 3 . Transition is a time period when two systems co-exist, 8 CEU eTD Collection beginning to be noticeable. From an economical point of view, Marinescu identifies just two just identifies Marinescu view, of point economical an From noticeable. be to beginning was and regulations 1996 theinfluence of previous after was started process structuring is inand the herview,1992-1996 old co-existed; regulations period when the a normative reconstruction Valentinaprocess. thatbetween appreciates Marinescu 1990 and 1992,the new disappointed their and the period 1992,when after audiences a publicsphereunderwentthe oflive stage 1990, the whenmedia broadcasting, stage the revolution 1990-1992, media 1989- experienced: thepost-communist that stages were three there and that argue looked atthe behavior place of audience the P Lafrance took that Dragan and gradually.I. Ion predictablebut evolutions byimportant, 1992wascharacterized after system period and the influencedsudden changesmedia whole that the mediaradical to and chaotic wassubjected Romanian whenthe wasatime main 1990-1992 periods: weretwo there of changes, the scome the to according that states Coman Mihai issue. the to approaches different providing and perspectives different from media post-communist studying each authors, several characteristics. distinct which have period, the transition answeridentify One some this isregime question clearstagesof havedisappeared. way to establish when there is only one system ruling and when all the traces of the old authoritariannoitgoverning.is However, is to when easy only democraticthe task one system, one, ends transition the co-exist, systems contradicting two when period the of transition, concept transition period end is a matter open to subjective analyses. If we follow theestimate whenthe to definition but collapses, when the oldmoment regime the starts, transition the of the triumphed. still functioning, of old are the regime aspects some duringisitaffirm transition, to fair that visible. Therefore, while the characteristics of the new one, though known have not yet In the case of the Romanian media, the period of transition was divided into stages by when is clear It period. transition the of duration the to is related question A difficult 9 CEU eTD Collection higherlearning system on ethnic grounds was a sensible issue clearlywhich was not regulated the of separation the for minority Hungarian the of push The rights. minority of issue the with whohaddealt bureaucrats planning the Ceausescu’s wastoreplace newthe not leadership of. policies minority Communist the change fundamentally tobeopen be interested wouldvalues, leadership,to was supposed to democratic which in renegotiateRomanian new an opportunity believing society, their the that status to the inHungarian minority hoping Transylvaniaplace change that the was thattook in 1990 was The new status. their of in negotiation correct that the seek to groups disadvantaged new is some when previously democraticperiod by one, system the replaced old the is the If transition process. of laterthe stages the about clear observations forth bringnot do they but process transition the of stage first the to comes it when valid be may observations standards and there is no common agreement on just one of them. many too are in there fact, reach, or, have to media Romanian standard is noclear there evolution of the media. A part of this ‘unfinished story’ delimitation consists of the fact that shaping the started system ofthe democratic when elements is asaperiod characterized 1996 after The period over. last stage declare don’t they the butchange wasageneral 1996, there delimitations give us a clue about the end of the transition period. All authors agree that after media. biased had a fact Romania tothe that pointed media organizations Several international in members news. be the will way its represented the andnewspapers TV stations with several negotiate managed to when party theelections, ruling beforewas 2004 general the period the a case such of Anexample fall below again. won’t it standard, specific one above media rises 5 4 whenperiod, media institutions became companies.private had monopoly 1990-1995–a periods: and state whenthe aovertime themedia post-1996 the Another aspect of the problem is the fact that there is no sound guarantee that once the once that guarantee sound no is there fact that isthe problem of the aspect Another SeeMarinescu,102-103. pp. As showed by the events that took place in the first months after the 1989 Revolution, 1989 the after months first in the place took that events the by showed As Coming back to Snyder and Ballentine’s article, one is right to say that their 10 5 4 Neither one of these of one Neither CEU eTD Collection 7 6 products. regulate media able to only actors the they were and of news the content the deciding on journalists were now subjected to anew authority.In the old regime, the state authorities were that meant media the over monopoly state the of breakdown The transition. of process the Enterprises of Media Development Commercial the vs. Control Actors’ Political II.2. The made. it that promises contradictory escape the to new inorder by leadership the beadopted the solution to rhetoric proved nationalist The regime. Communist the by perpetrated injustices the solving for claims elites in the race for power proved to come first before the rights of minorities and their forneed old the political beginning,their Ceausescu’sassimilationist policy,condemned NSF the in Although country. the throughout authority their of expansion the at aiming (FSN), 1980s. These individuals for wereuseful thenewleadership, The National Front Salvation were in that charge during thepeakof inCeausescu’s policies,assimilationist 1970sandthe appointed in key positions in publicadministrationthe of Transylvania the same individuals evidence this for is factthe that firstthe president of post-Communist Romania,Iliescu, Ion and maintained were regime authoritarian old the of characteristics the respect, In this before Transylvania 1918. oppressive the ruling of about stories using containinga rhetoric suspicions and fear among the Romanian majority. create to instrumented were which minority Hungarian the of intentions irredentist of myths create new to leadership push the provided This tradition. anolderwith democratic by states Ibid, p.106 SeeGallagher, p.105. The debate around the factors of influence on media products is influence factors of the connectedto onmediaThe debatearound closely products back tolifeby brought andinsensiblewas Hungarian The arrogant of the stereotype 7 11 6 CEU eTD Collection 8 parties. political different by controlled were in Romania liars. The reason for this developmentis that in the early 1990s, almost half of the newspapers just butheroes, journalists afewmonths,the publicturned after them, as against depicting and martyrs revolutionaries, as seen were journalists when months, of couple first the for worked strategy The society. a democratic of process in rebuilding the as media the a pillar self-legitimization. for modalities countries,other where such a kindof was non-existent,press journalists hadquickly to find whichfollowed changeof the whileinthe period system, the legitimacy immediate during the The existenceregimes. Communist the of fall the after immediately public the by perceived were media way of landscapes from countriesdifferent from within formerthe Communist block influenced the an anti-Communistmedia the between cleavage This Albania. or Bulgaria Romania, like in countries absent were channels Such mass communication media. refers asclandestine Gross to which Peter mediaand to system, theCommunist opposed media that of been acategory had Republic there provided Czech the and in Hungary example,media Poland, For legacysystems. communist the the of the journalists with a degree of presenting their dissatisfaction with the new way in which mass communication institutions communication mass in which way new the with dissatisfaction their presenting gradually By reduced. endthe 1990s, the of wereseveralthere cases of politicians publicly of political the factions involved in strugglethe for power. becamevoice it a Instead find information. to in order forum could address into people a that See Gross, pg. 61. In Romania, wasachieved byadopting this ananti-Communist agendaand advertising media first of In transition developedthe stage of background the period the against After 1992,thesituation changed and political the media control over the was 12 8 The media failed to transform itself CEU eTD Collection professionalism. media Eastern the European lackeda“bonafide public andjournalistic servicefunction” unlikebut, in inregion,of intheliberalization cases democracies Western the seen Europe, 11 10 sessions. working on a project that wouldwas create impossible a TV station to broadcast liveto 9 controlthe daily parliamentary the messages disseminated by the media and even went so far as news of the bulletins. character againstwere writingnew the andpresenting diverseand pluralistic the news,protesting unpredictable and so the gatekeeper-role of gatekeeper-roleunpredictable mediaand sothe of the becamelesspolitical. more became institutions political the and media the between relation the influencing elites the diminished; was power individual their Consequently, media. with interacted pluralistic media. pluralistic placewhich an development canbedescribed Westerntook as caseof model extreme the of the affirm that media case to Romanian focused on the who makes scholars argument party control to all messagesdisseminatedby the largenumberthis publications. of This orfor political one impossible state for the makesitpractically a largenumber of publications media. Accommodatingtopics adiversity of within forindependent existence condition the of itAt sametime,can beapre- also the were being that addressed. interests and perspectives of variety of existence a the of evidence This gives variety topics. focusedof a on were of 1.800by end 1990s,which the inRomania hadpublicationsthe approximately 1989, From inflourished 495 the 1989-2000period. media had Romanian the this aspect, businesses alsoimplied agrowing dependenceon themarket. which medialess on political dependable were parties and werebecoming profit-driven Being theused with from situation half firstthe of it decade,somethe politicians sawthat Gross and Splichal argue See Gross, pg. 82. that the evolution of the East European media contributed to the One of the causes for this change was the increase of the number of institutions that institutions of number the of increase the was change this for causes the of One One aspect in which the autonomy of the media can be measured is its diversity. In diversity. its is measured be can media the of autonomy the in which aspect One 11 9 13 10 The situation in situation The CEU eTD Collection were acting motivated by economical reasons, but also by political, social, cultural, religious social, cultural, by also but political, reasons, byeconomical motivated were acting media domains, the likerelevant the restof Just fully market-oriented. not countries were itis important to stress the fact that the economic systems from the ex-communist Eastern press. commercial 1989 andEuropean from Eastern press practically the a shifted 2000period press to a party media. European between period the of During Eastern evolution the the can process describe refused to consume their products. So one could affirm that there a consumerist characteristicera. Communist years the after in first the parties useful critics? construct to necessary skills professional the possess is not impeded as thetheoretical speech, which freedom of is Iscapacity understood affirmation “capacity”. by any state authority, or does it also encompass the idea that journalists 14 13 12 politicians. governing the against criticism employ to capacity continuum.” subordination-autonomy] media standon [the proved once again to be an “overallchangingof andcontext Eastern 1990s.that the Gurevitch Jay Blumlerstate Europe Michael cultural mix thefast of because ... be difficult to proved another or extreme inone being as situation that will tend to fix the of the assessment the context, European in Eastern the However, issue ownership. the of position of the See Gross and Splichal. See Price, p.6. See Gerbner, p.263. The press does notexist beyond the economical situation of the respective country and by political media were controlled European Eastern the that is a consensus There The independence of the media can be measured in the respect in which they have the have they in which respect in the measured be can media the of independence The is which ideaindicator independence of the a media system about an gives Another 14 14 This situation changed Thissituation public whenthe 12 13 Theproblematic of word this CEU eTD Collection 15 and factors. ethnic practice, as he does not take all the scenarios into account. The discontent of the public that thepublic of The discontent account. into scenarios all the take not hedoes as practice, there is no clear evidence that this is the kind of news that the audience wants. Also, news. diverse and credible of lack the hide to be able not will phenomenon tainment info- the and sensationalism that believes also He news. diverse and credible offer not will media if canhappen commercial the again content, propaganda of to liarsbecause political the journalistsfrom of status the heroes 1990sin the audience re-envisioned the Romania, when of in beginning place the thattook situation same the states that Gross same the time. place at media in this region,in relation with political, economical and social transformations that take model to follow. have not aclear media do European Eastern the haveagreed, authors becauseasother respect, this kind isof morequestion confusingin European Eastern Heisthe context. in right this commercial media is less useful a to society than the public service type media. He argues that the that proof no is there isthat conclusion His media. service public and media commercial between comparison atheoretical asfardoing evengoes control.Gross political from of press the totheliberalization contributed that phenomenon was the media commercial Peter Gross and Slavko Spichal actors. more by andmorepolitical controlled These ofmedia systems. were characteristics argue that, in the Eastern by adopted owners werethe media strategies publications andthemore profit-oriented Europeanof number large The 1990s. case, the of half second in the existent longer thenot was media emergence of diversity being often achieved by frames.using different See Gross, p. 197. The auto-correcting characteristic mentioned by Gross works better in theory than in than in theory better works Gross by mentioned characteristic auto-correcting The for apattern the dictate will inis that the process 1989 started process The transition the of control political absolute the that meant influence political a partial Having 15 A variety of motivations translates into a variety of media products, a 15 CEU eTD Collection was used inwas used toformulate hypothesis. the order ambiguous messenger (politicians through the media, media elites, editorialists etc.). failures highly with the together leaders political the media wereheldresponsible the for politicized of factor thatthe Gross does not analyze extensivelyreformto the in situation it the same wayin beginning which atthe did An important of 1990s. the is that in the first years of the transition period,process,17 16 since the promises that wereas the jury.” made to thein the agenda of the press. He says that the audiencepublic has the potential beto “the judge, as well had achange media triggered the thus and sanctioned theaudience in which some events he traced an media. that this topic plays in the overall development process of the Romanian post-communist issuethe will be in that Anotherdebated followingthe important chapters. remark isthe role is of representations types determine certain that factors media.are the What market-oriented of a inthecontext ethnicity of representations of different isconstruction the this paper isthem which themarket, led to development the of media.commercial The mainfocus of of important most the Amongst factors. of different a mixture represent functions way media motivesthe dictate from 1990sandthe the that themselves middlethe of control political at thesystem. into integrated are imperfections these above, by mechanism described of the corrected being Instead difficult. more and more becomes properly, job their do to fail they when media the sanction to namely job audiences, the the of case, In this information. for accurate media the on people rely also some and topics information about of source isonly the media the in is cases some fact that has the knowledge to differentiate audiencewould ofthemedia the inthenews achange policies trigger presumes reporting that between the wrong kind and the good kind of news. The The same situation was encountered before the 2004 before the react publicdidnot elections, Thesame the and was encountered situation See Gross, p. 216. Peter Gross is optimistic about the evolution of media in the region, in the respect that respect in the region, the in media of evolution the about is optimistic Gross Peter mediafree European ideaThere isa the Eastern havemanagedto that about consensus 16 Again, this is a conclusion that can be verified in a case where the final result 16 17 CEU eTD Collection journalism should be separated from internal (news executives, publishers, advertisers) or publishers, advertisers) internal executives, from be separated journalism (news should serve information.main isachieve thepublicinterest goal, which through to to Inorder that, journalists had for conceptof providedadefinition the isobjectivity tothe and all subjected developedby journalisticthe Within community. thisframework of professional principles, by rules are regulated and andthe promotion recruitment network training an autonomous isarticle, by shaped professional by developed criteria have journalists.the They developed news the finalGans. product, the that Gansstates by centered andwasdeveloped Herbert etc. for entire the system as athreat considered movements why aresome etc., desirable/undesirable different, appearasdangerous, some groups why do manners, some in topics certain present news come how about debate the into light shed may such contesting by questions to for Theanswers them? granted without taken audience the Consensus Political and Behavior II.3. Media do theirwork. and according tovarious stereotypes,all thinks which of determine thewayhe/sheis going to lesstolerant, or is more an ethnicity, has institution apress for works who individual Every journalists. the of beliefs personal interaction, the to crucial also and, commercial political, various: are process this influence that factors the above, mentioned As moment. given media atone of Romanian the characteristics the show that than analysis rather this respect for in isanswer onelook trends this should question and hardto perhaps creatingIt debates? facilitate changeAre diverseenoughto new media representations the by ideas presenting and One set of theories trying to explain the above-mentioned phenomenon is journalists- is phenomenon above-mentioned the explain to trying theories of set One How are frames produced and where do they come from? How come that they are 17 CEU eTD Collection 19 professional principles were the main factors shaping the news. which according to theory, journalist-centered againstthe journalists argue of practices the 18 guideexplainframing.media that to in reasons the order easier. processes and news-writing selection make byjournalists their to in order adopted issue routine hereisthe news. athand The the as perceives audience what the into modified are which of them apart select information, framing would be examine to the wayin journalists choose processwhich to vast amounts of most influencethe finalthe on media products. has which context the is newsrooms the of structure organizational the that stress others while commercialinfluence imperatives havenews, determining on of these organizations a the have. might themselves pressures,external any journalists groups) interest or prejudices(political, that other second stage is a reporter’s decision of what frame is worthy to highlight of the event in event highlight of the to is frame worthy of what decision is areporter’s stage second The at this stage. whichinteractfactors numerous are there subchapter, precedent andin the this kindof shoulddecisions be thoseof professional butprinciples, as it was argued above in weight should theoretically that reasons The event. the of newsworthiness the determines the first instance, in says anthat Bagdikian can itsunfolding. actual even precede be inwill represented question editor decides whether aremadedecisions andsome institutions media insidethe that decisions abouthow eventthe a certain event in is which the shoulda process this that news, weshallobserve inof selection stages the three be looked at or notjournalists as individuals play role.we followa decisive Bagdikian’s If Ben model of the and ideological of topics, Inthecase the convictions factors. of emphasized ethnicity-related above- the all on theories the combining by be provided can phenomenon this of explanation SeeGitlin,251. p. Studiesfocus on that newsthe institutions and the influences way their organization the Other theories focus on aspects such as technological factors, economics or audience economics or factors, technological as such aspects focuson theories Other Other theories are centered on the news organizations themselves. Some argue that the 18 18 One way to explain the phenomenon of phenomenon the explain to way One 19 Presumably, acomplete CEU eTD Collection of the interaction between the political actors and the journalists. the and actors political the between interaction the of basis the on also theirformulate opinions audiences news the andthe to react actors Political topic. decide the who ones the and they are also to react first the are journalists The stages. in place takes process interaction the that fact stress the to important itis also but assumption, from endthe beingthem. unfold scenarios within this interaction resultSeveral the action, of directions three be would there that assume can we elaboration this to According beingalthough it to is of actually closer atug functionallywar thanan organism”. interrelated in a system, coexist audiences and journalists “...sources, that notes Gans organizations. topressuressubjected havingupon from actors different toact power the them their or interesting, but most important, what it is true. is what just not is see they what and work, their over autonomy have reporters the that believes audience the that fact the in relies news-reporting of legitimacy The a publication. of an importantroleinis the overall audience since determining the powerpotential results, the play also public the of expectations The interests. political or economic particular have elite, depend on goingthe system for theirp. 258. status; people from the political and economical elite. They belong to the same elite groups and 20 mainaspects. in its system existing the the third stage, an editor decides how to treatand place the resulting story. will suchideas.In argue thisfearsthe wayin becausehe/she environment which perceive the itisisbelieve against, ethnicgroup acertain he/shewillnot possiblethat discriminated that potential of some frames importantplay an role in this stage. Although one journalistmay question. personal The background, convictions of journalists,the aswell the salient Todd Gitlin explains how media owners and managers interact with decision making decision with interact managers and owners media how explains Gitlin Todd Since the pieces of news that are broadcasted have consequences, journalists can be can journalists have consequences, are broadcasted news that of pieces Since the Through socialization and experience, media managers are committed to maintaining to arecommitted media managers andexperience, socialization Through 20 At the same time, they, as members of the corporate 19 CEU eTD Collection 22 21 thinkmore about interactions between ethnic simplyor groups between individuals with informed of the ethnic composition of the society. Consequently, the audience would tend to public.the into can politically These evolve salient topics andcan influence convictions. issues for media salient arethe can as validimplies that which decide agenda settingtheory the of hypothesis the Accepting other. the than important more is issue which themselves for overall amountinformationof isaccessible not to public,the and therefore they can notjudge informationforby media.media set andthey their from The topics the the agenda provided the on rely People higher. is even public the for agenda the setting in media the of power the areabsent, factors latter When the agenda. public overall the determine also can interactions and personal by convictions but experience, media, the influenced less dramatically caninfluence example,that factors agenda For the situation. the publicmaybemorethe of or certain topics. towards attention todirectmediahave power also the are “outside their experience”, that events events of byindividuals.representations those by public as the salient. similarities debatedby issues only the between towards describedpointed mediaandthose the but bycorrelations, proved research was not conducted the basis on that the been criticized has for theory thepeople. The mediafact maysetthe agenda the that pinpoints Shaw’s study itisin McCombsand peoplebut effectivetelling people tothink tothink, what what about, Topics Ethnicity-Related in II.4. Agenda-Setting See Iyengar and Kinder, p.2. See Pietila, p. 184. If the media report on ethnic relations extensively, the audience is reminded or theisreminded on extensively, audience If themediaethnic relations report the and world in the happen that events between connection only the are media The Departingfrom Cohen’s that remark pressmightthe notbe successful in telling 22 Media has a greater influence on the audience when there are fewer when are audience there the on influence agreater Mediahas 20 21 If the media enable people to find out about find out to Ifpeople enable the media CEU eTD Collection 23 in the views of the public who have no other connection to the topic, except the press. in itbecome will salient also media, the discussed is largely and covered If event. aspect one respective tothe by public attributed the significance degreeof news, the entails thisof also are important, as this is the role of the media. If one eventis mentioned briefly in a short piece debate the of aspects which or events which deciding one the not is public The topic. the on part of informationmediaonly had public that the provided knowledge the the werethe that hand, other media, the the on topic through the with familiarized audienceof were the parts chances finding of about out debate the and events the whichit. If generated on the one hand Bolyai involved, University in parts of were people other Romania havefar would less of Babes- professors inwhichthe events on the news reports Without media. the through Constanta or in Bucharest public tothe available inwas Cluj theUniversity break-upof the on debate The group. minority a of identity the on has public a certain that information setting publicagenda. the it is fair tosay that there are substantial studies that show that media have a high impact on on provide mediathe to information which theon experience of topics are outside one group, is thereahigh case Adaptingto the dependence this where scenario information.ideas of and exchange interpersonal and observations personal as such information of sources alternative public agenda. conclusions onthe show that national level,media aremore in successful influencing the comparing the agenda-setting role of processwiththe national localand issues, and the exactly the share of measureinfluence that are few evidences and scientific process there influence agenda-building the that the mediadifferent have amongst ethnic otherorigins. factors. It is rightThere toare affirm studies that the media are only one of the factors that SeePalmgreen and Clarkein andMcCombs 116. Protess, p. Group representations elaborated by the media can represent the only source of only source the can by media represent the elaborated representations Group 23 The underlying reason is that in local issues individuals also rely on rely also individuals issues in local isthat reason underlying The 21 CEU eTD Collection 27 26 25 24 causes,moral orevaluationsattributed judgments and solutions. proposed Entman’s frameworkwhich identifieslevels four of an agenda:attribute problem definition, specificissues. to those attributes butit certain alsoassigns mediaby salient, as being the presented only issues issue.seesthe one not in audience to The areproposed regard solutions certain areemphasized, characteristics issue different and one show complexity of the itto of notallow mediathe format The setting. does whole with seethe perspective people which members.audience media tothe from salience the of attribute with deals transmission setting Attribute-agenda islevelsas issue-agenda of one describedabove agenda The referredto setting. setting. proposed by proposed press. the very the exactsolution to tobenot prove noopen quick public might alsothe and solutions in influencing thebecause adoption someof one solution problems aretoocomplex and have influence havelimited of orattitudes evaluations also members.Media the over audience the influence little have media the that proven been has it judgments, moral to comes it When problem are beingformulated. forremedies’ the where is solutions ‘proposed stage future; in interactions the their the of formulating projections and causes the between connections means evaluating,establishing judgments’ ‘moral causes triggered the event; the that causes’refersto ‘attributed actions; definition; refers to the description of the actors and which are the exact effects of their See Takeshita in McCombs, Shaw and Weaver, p. 26. See Entman, p.53. Ibidum, p.23. See Takeshita in McCombs, Shaw and Weaver, p. 22. In order to operationalize the concept of attribute-agenda setting, we can employ we can setting, of attribute-agenda theconcept tooperationalize In order In analyzing the case of the Babes-Bolyai University,it is relevant to look at different The first levels two have more potential of influencingactually the public agenda. 24 By pointing the specific issue to look at, media can also influence the influence also can media at, look to issue specific the pointing By 27 22 26 ‘Problem 25 CEU eTD Collection 29 28 Identities and ofMovements Definition theSocial in Frames II.5. Media of agendafor in media the influence membersof audience. the setting the diminishing the to contribute also communication interpersonal and observations personal such as information of ways Alternative press. the of influence agenda-setting to the open inideas aretheones strong question the issue that peopleon topicabout this without show researches Empirical mass-media. powerful theory of the to a comeback not is theory setting appropriate solution might be or evaluating the causes and assessing their effects. The agenda- Bolyai University itis unfair to say that media can influence the audience opinion on what the actions. with peoplemakes disagree lossesrestating aspotential course of the of consequences the the actions, while of course the to agreewith more tend people gain, asapotential described is event an when that show done Experiments issue. certain that to regarding of think people the how can decide that ways media indifferent bythe be described can same story him/her, all of his/her accomplishments or all of his/her failures, weak points and strong and points weak failures, his/her all of or accomplishments his/her of all him/her, by emphasized media. the identities, etc.byassessing issues onthe theirgroups, performance political behaviors, actors theirmembersformulate about opinions involved audience arebeingjudged.The actors matters, while ignoring potential makeothers, theto is difference way the in issuethe is framed.which By focusing on some news reports influence the standards according to which the See Iyengar, p.12. Ibid, p.23 Applying this framework to the case of Applying tothe case around thisframework of the debate the break-upof Babes- the A certain issueA by canbeframed loss. potential certain gain media as a the or potential Most articles do not present a political figure by mentioning all the past references of references figurepresentby mentioning past all the articlesnot a political do Most 29 In both research cases, the choices offered were identical. The element with the with Theelement identical. were offered choices the cases, research Inboth 23 28 The CEU eTD Collection 32 31 30 performance. noton their overall matter, respective in that them by involved evaluating about actors the theiropinion formulate audiencethe issue,may one or institutions which are the focus of a journalistic material.When the news reports emphasize movements groups, ethnic with same isthe It feature. medium-sized in a comprised all points, space limitations, commercial reasoning and resource management, episodic reports are more are episodicmanagement, reports and resource reasoning commercial space limitations, general presents evidences. framing issues, thematic while events toillustrate to is pointframes episodic by that Iyengar conditions that led a to certain result. The difference between the two kinds of news identified news framesissues. Thematic them public with connect issuesand concrete focus on that news oriented present a more“episodic” framing and “thematic” framing. The episodic frames can be case studiesgeneral or event- context and iscase. This toby phenomenon referred andKinderIyengar as‘projection’. report onjudgein not Transylvania and will based thewholetherefore made group on claims the inthis the living general ethnics Hungarian of majority the as intentions same the have not do which extremists outcomes in break-up of debateabout University the Clujthethe action regardthe will some as of or the majority, the common sharing goals of preserving multiculturalthe heritage of Transylvania Hungarian University will previous believes. his/her enforce Anindividualfor whom members the of the minority Babes-Bolyai break-up the to the attempts on reports the Romania, secede from seeks to are Romanianexample,if individualan considered the minority Hungarian in Transylvania as whicha group citizensFor topic. specific of that theirevaluations overall be to consistent issue to aspecific on with the adjust that their readers opinions by members show audience mediathe areperceived frames same rights as the members of the See Iyengar, p.14. Idem SeeIyengar and Kinder, p.70. Based on the format of the presentation, Iyengar classifies the news stories in news stories the classifies Iyengar presentation, the of format the Based on 32 Because of the special characteristics of media, such as the of characteristics Becauseof special the 24 30 The studies on the way 31 CEU eTD Collection as irredentists. is It not aim the debate paperthis of this to aspect;themainfocuslook at is to questioneddescribe factas acommon of citizensthose that Romanian all and to heritage this University Babes-Bolyai the describing of that was employed frame common most the show, institutions.As differentwill analysis the two were Romanianuniversities andHungarian question break-upfrom the of of a historical point view, since,until years50 the ago, pose the be would to thedebates on way to report Another expectations. their with accordance in will usedframe, the each group react minority ethnic Hungarian for to the and according again or majority loss fortheRomanian asa be described can University Babes-Bolyai the frames,different whichcan views topic.alter break-up people’s tothe and responses of The employing by described be can events same The patterns. response on influence an has Concentratinganotheris wordingthe sidein one ofthe or question story, posed on whichthe mostprofile, daily arepredominantly dedicatedtoepisodic reports. publications conditionspotential and about makeassumptions solutions. Compelled bytheirformat and evaluate the a moreinto general context, debate the transfigure that stories thematic arepreferableare event-centered that to reports managersmay that press imperatives, decide commercial to allocate to this more arewillingissue.Due to spacethan some publications evaluation. overall concrete no is there because obtain or hardto isvery information because the reports for thematic suitable be not would some topics available, were andtime resources necessary evenif the is that, reason Another biases. journalistic of charges to susceptible less are they way this and reality the are presenting they argue that implicitly journalists news,the episodic presenting more several reasons: thematic reports are more time consuming and more difficult toundertake; by of because priority and acts newsaregiven breaking Concrete coverage. than thematic present Unlike agenda-setting, framing has a bigger influence on decision influence framing on bigger has outcomes. Unlike agenda-setting,decision a bases take would onethnic universities separate caseof of the An in-depth analysis 25 CEU eTD Collection In his analysis of the New Leftmovement in the 1960s, Todd Gitlin concludes: particular topic. of that evaluation the audience’s influence may frames news attention, viewer’s the media command who are familiarized and involved inthe involved who familiarizedand topic. are those influence also to proven been has framing media, the by provided one the except topic the to connection no other or little had who members audience among highest was setting agenda setting dependlikejust of of Theeffects theones newsis report. priming, eventthe thecenterof which on the message, as of characteristics sheer wellthe than mentioned areless involved actors the of stances Ideological as on the nature of forththe audience. to If theagenda audience, influenced, butattitudes, identities and ethnical representations. but in is which another or party one which towards inclination the not is it show, will analysis press the nature asthe occasions onseveral itwas members. case,although politicized of In this audience and detailsmajority familiar the to isnot University Babes-Bolyai of history the the that assume can also of the event laws. One bynational anissuetobe whichisyet tominority clearly regulated rights, relates are emphasized.The issue of Universitythe in Clujalso stands for an andambiguous complex problem since it 34 33 in on thisreporting topic. AsIyengarnotes: most framesmediaframing andwhichwerethe used thematic the how episodic or employed SeeIyengar and95. Kinder, p. Ibid 13. Episodic framing may create the context in which not the main problem is brought is problem main the not in which context the create may framing Episodic opinions. dramatic form in of survey variations produce questions and wording the in alterations unobstrusive that shown have ininterest politics are low. [...] The studies (on framing) ambiguous, and levels of publicand knowledge about is discourse political complex, typically are issues Political politics. involves problem choice the when choice of Framing significant should asa be particularly determinant 33 26 34 If effective agenda-setting meant that the that meant agenda-setting effective If CEU eTD Collection 37 36 degree. who ones the be infor issueare responsible the influencing generating in or question course of the events some occasionally can they since issue, whole the on influence media’s neglecting 35 reporting news the from unfolding their in distinct actions, and will their of independent conviction that they are only providing “a mirror of reality.” of “a the mirror providing are only they conviction that and facts not relevant in competition fromand this is why they produce news regularly and in an efficient way. involved their also are institutions Media news). in the interest its public, the of demand the case, point of view.days) only two like therehasone product, or anyother and, tobe a demandfor them this (in At the same have newsroom. products Media avery life information fornewsworthy short span (most are time, journalistspublic. The the be to sold are ready to (news)that products into be transformed to (information) materials havecharacteristics the of theinside the newsroom and how these kinds of events may contribute toproduct the overall result. explained byits institutional Atthisdesign. point Iwillshape interactionsthe debate thattakeplace the also media was the processesbehavior of the which on occasions Therewere produce. to capable is it influences of kinds thatthe and to to subjected itwas influence that of kinds the was on take place inside the theNewsroom –inside Topics II.6. Ethnicity-Related Idem. SeeComan 2003, p.37. See Gitlin, p. 9; the author argues that certain social events can not be analyzed without For journalists, the information available is made up of events “that make “that of news” the isup events made available information the journalists, For The newsroom is similar in its organization with other Untilinstitutions. now, media was referred inIt this needs thesis as rawbeing a monolithic actor. The focus emphases and tones, through all their forms of treatment. through through omissions, and they selections work and its situations”, of “definitions shapes thepublic’s that discourse legitimate of field a amplify sometimes generate, attitudes, and moods – of ideology, in short. They sometimes in the forming anddelimiting assumptions, of public ... mass-media are, to say the least, a significant social force 27 37 35 They see events as 36 CEU eTD Collection 38 event. the of meaning the influencing not is reporting objective their that believe also They importance. and unexpectedness their through nature their by self-evident and them) on reporting are journalists time the by finished even are and/or started have (events process 40 1996), 12. LaDecouverte, (Paris: 39 moreitaccording printing position space in and abetter layout of the newspaperthe page.In by it they isreward and story a great what They decide monopoly. have the gatekeepers isnewsworthy not which isby also guided andon what and principles of whatroutines is process This occupy. them doeachof position what and newspaper the intoit make articles the of which decide who ones arethe Gatekeepers report. news a into be transformed should they can also point to which aspect of the story should the reporter look at, which frame journalists should look for events that have the potential to make itinto the news. At this stage to as“gatekeepers” referred which belongs editors, the newsworthy are is to newsrooms, thewhichstory roleondeciding to ensure journalistic Inthe continuation hierarchy the of production processes. the the of inside thereis which are ahierarchy thealso institutions, newsrooms and routines reproduced texts. journalistic into information are usedtoidentify topicsthe and which events reproduce are newsworthy those and to which emerged have practices routine filter, and process to have journalists that information focused on identifying those particular kinds of events.have Becausein and thereinterested is are a huge they amount ones the of for definitions some developed have journalists importance. of kind some andhold are not reproducing the reality,but search for news, for events which are worthy for the public sounds more like the description of a scientific way of reporting, because in reality, journalists MarkFishman, SeeGitlin,260. p. Eric Neveau, 1996, The commercial aspect of media institutions is also the reason why, like in most other most in like why, reason the also is institutions media of aspect commercial The Manufacturing the Manufacturing News Sociologie des mouvements sociaux 40 . They are the ones who first decide the areas in which the 39 Because not all events have those characteristics, havethose all events not Because . (Austin: University . (Austin: Texas Press, 31. of 1980), 28 (Sociology of social movements). 38 This CEU eTD Collection has to convincehasis whoto editor the in charge for deciding be whicharticles will publishedthat from Cluj Thecorrespondent place inBucharest. take that events them are about majority of newspaper has,which by in anditare written isjournalists assumeBucharest fair to that the each reporters of number on the depending least articles, 50-250 beat will there Bucharest, than locations other Bucharest. from forother information agencies news upon rely others while Cluj, in based reporters two or one have may Some country. andof parts in the based correspondents other inBucharest 50and250reporters between congruentisinstitutions of But thenature Most not with of their have statement. this them daily include relevantpublications which topicsfor are that people inallregions of Romania. Cluj. throughout ThenewspapersbasedinBucharest aredistributed the country national as of with exception the Bucharest, shouldintomake it frontthe page of newspaper. the article one that other, than the important ismore topic one be that persuaded to which need is gatekeepers in the decision. It nopart this ittakes because and newsworthy, important Inconvinceimpose. have case, thethis journalistsnottheir to is public dothe story that They are the ones deciding whois judgingjournalist,a good by standardswhich the they gatekeepers. is bythe journalists decided prestige importance, of the the which less isof one audience. the for interesting make themselves to they look news the of media, imperatives the commercial the given but, public, the of needs and interests the to according decisions their guide should gatekeepers the Theoretically, consideration. into taken is not see more to it want what does this theis publicprocess, and absent the public’sassessmentisof what interesting andabout The scenario is that every day, in the newsroom of one of the publications based in whichThe newspapers be analyzedin will have fifth in the chapter theirheadquarters Since the public is not the one deciding which article should make itinto the news and Gazeta deCluj 29 , which is alocal daily basedpublication, in CEU eTD Collection consideration when speaking about the representation in therepresentation of topic the press. consideration speaking about when the isinfluencing afactor definitely the reporting process andis itit worth takinginto influences on around reporting thethe debate the break-up of it Babes-Bolyai the University, has more chances of being published than an article focused on a thematic frame. Cluj in correspondent the by written event, ceremonial or unexpected shocking, sensational, a about anarticle words, frames.other In focused on episodic materials write manage to will from Cluj hasmore chances beingof published, since not all journaliststhe from Bucharest and the ones findthey inCluj.As argued in previousthe an subchapter, eventcentered article find journalists itis in inBucharest thenoteworthy subjects and reality Bucharest, about the Bucharest. As mentionedit above,is a question not of deciding between reality the in Cluj in journalists by wrote articles other than important more and interesting ismore story his/her Although it isAlthough it notthe purpose of thismeasure paper to how above-mentionedthe scenario 30 CEU eTD Collection http://soemz.euv-frankfurt-o.de/media-see/qpress/articles/mpetcu.html 45 44 43 42 41 factors: titleslaunched every year.were new 414 Inaverage, publicationsdecreased. thenumberof that, after and be peakperiod the had2.137 nationwide and2.187hadlocal andregional distribution. is This to also considered 1950s”. of the worth nature a dogmatic of of organization kind change as “Marxist-Leninist a before theRomanian1989. PeterGross system describes the press clandestine to pressprior press Romanian 1989 post of the history The III.1. III. Romanian media development after 1989 just one year,justone number 1.500. reached the mechanism of transformations from a totalitarian kind of press to a democratic press. the about can speculate that noactual theories are media, butthere of the on evolution the Studies that focused on firstthe steps that Romania took in the transition process alsofocused needed to legitimize itself to the people and to openly express its new democratic orientation. space for free ideas and diversity. This implied that after the violent change of the regime, it See Coman, 2003, p. 79. Idem. See Petcu Marian, “Romanian Quality Press under the Sign of Maturity See Coman, p.22. See Gross, p. 52. a. This chaotic evolution of the Romanian print press can be attributed to a series of there was a censorship prior to1989 which meant that the available readings were also factthat by the canbeexplained which materials reading for There wasa demand 45 Unlike other countries from the former Communist block, Romania did not have a If in wereapproximately 1989,there out of in500 publications, which 36 weredailies, 41 The press existingwas state disseminating viewsthe of rulingthe leaving party, no 44 43 In1998,4.958werepublished of out and that, ” available at available 42 CEU eTD Collection 47 46 readers. of the characteristics selective and more critical more and the to response alsoa was This engaged. passionate style markedby a more opinions information-drivento style andless politically landscape media Romanian The III.2. of readers. category see if just to an find a launched on market the publications were as they could experiment, profitable, forowners although but self-defense;someserved astools not they were by their maintained titles certain of existence adds the also Petcu Marian reasons, To these Idem. SeePetcu, p. 3. e. d. c. b. The journalistic discourse of discourse of The journalistic newfree the had from a developed press quickly force. work recycle cheap alarge, easy and to created journalist be a could anyone that idea the and standards professional no were There properly. implemented not were regulations financial large since quickly capitals, asamean to accumulate wereregarded enterprises State regulation was practically absent atleast in firstthe half 1990s the of andmedia werelow. costs Production influence. more with werecredited situation,newspapers in werelow and this networks contributed to the development of the print press was the fact that investments in TV events and discussions that were in search for aforum of debate. Another factor which new sparked also life 1990s the of andsocial political agitated change. Therelatively There was a largenumber of topics which could bedebated following the 1989 system and information,sources entertainment opinions. of quick and cheap andmagazines in People newspapers saw by state. regulated the 47 In midthe 1990s,several publicationstabloid launched were andother 46 32 CEU eTD Collection 52 99.532 copies and argued above, the indicators on argued above, indicatorson the which suchan innotrelevantanalysis should are bedone the mediaas change Also, reasonis theconstant andRomania. of owners editors. underlying The information need for andignores thatare topics largeof publicinterest. presentsthat minor topics subjects,as important stereotypes, promotes weakens the public’s ajournalistic has of leadto type indiscourse process tabloidization process The country. the transition the of definitivation the contributing to not and public needs of the serving the Romanian dailies, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations in Romania (BRAT). 51 50 49 48 and debates. of publications thattoday about10 allocate percent of politicaltheir printing spaceto news politicalprinting to news. space intotransformation, tabloidsnightfavoredover sensational that less turning allocating topics, political debates and opinions. same Oncethe again, publications suffered arapid for publishing becameknown rapidly Party of Communist voice were consideredthe the that for. worked they publication the of circulation the publishing morbid articles sensational and other stories believedwhich they would increase they butleaders”,“opinion agreed on considered themselves editors newspapers. Some andquality between no publications clear distinction of tabloid There newspapers. was daily similarcompared to evolutions inEuropeancountries, anditother majority encompassed the topics. sensational and brief in news newspaperschange to decided an their from profile one oriented to of opinion-type press to See Coman, 2003, p. 74. According to BRAT,in According to December 2006, See Coman, 2003, p. 72. See M. Vasilescu, 2001, p. 51. See Coman, 2003, p. 72. There is no study to name the exact profile of the existingThe tabloid type press isaccused by press analysts and academicsin Romanianot of daily newspapers in 50 These are also the publications that have the highest circulation out of all Libertatea 257.890copies per day. Libertatea 48 This change took place This took change in avery small period of time, and 33 Jurnalul National Jurnalul National 49 Immediately after 1989, the newspapers 1989,the after Immediately are examples of these kinds was selling approximately 52 51 CEU eTD Collection http://www.ejc.net/media_landscape/article/romania/ 54 in decisions. interfere editorial the thattried to former owners the had with journalists the that by theconflicts established and presentmomentthe to ithas thereputation a quality of newspaper, reputation which was in 1994ittabloid for beingwas credited successful year2000 the the first inRomania; after described by Gross as Peter hybridthe model evolved that after fall the of Communistthe production news and logic III.3. Media reputation. bad overall an have and newspapers daily central foras atool authorities. the against self-defense newspapers arelessinfluential because a part of bylocalthem are run politicians and areused of circulation of the 10 percent about paper, daily successful regional most the of circulation number in the be observed can This distribution. nation-wide University inCluj University not use regional publications55 as a source not even once in three months, in the topic of the 53 years two-three longerthat for aperiod have valid that proved categories two the isof there noclear separation but Roventa-Frumusani), Petcu, Gross, is blurred(Coman, theirin profile. Thereis an thelineagreement that between Romania quality tabloid and press change didnot but commercial, dueto format, for tabloid the have opted several publications a moreof layouteither another.The newspaperthe is helpfulcategory indicator since or not some publications both publishsensational and quality is itarticles, putit hardinto to one and therefore try to keep quality newspapers reputation the liveup to of publicationsto Romanian Most want context. at least the appearances that can be used to argue for that. Since For a more detailed picture of the Romanian media landscape, see landscape, of media Romanian Foramorethe picture detailed The analyses in Chapter V will show that the seven national daily newspapers analyzed did analyzed newspapers daily national seven the that show will V in Chapter analyses The The case of the daily Bucharest based Romanian press shares some characteristics with the rest of the East European press, European East restof the the with characteristics some shares Romanian press with and the newspapers dailies regional hugethe between There isalsoa cleavage . Gazeta deSud Libertatea Evenimentul Zilei Evenimentul 34 , whichpublishes only each30.000 copies day, (according to BRAT). (according local Regional and to 54 They are rarely cited as sources by the assources cited They are rarely is relevant for this discussion since 55 53 . CEU eTD Collection 60 59 58 57 56 is ititis or mightfulfill, media role the by done a accident agenda-setting coincidence. values. teaching democratic from isdifferent athing which information, political media transmit European Eastern concludes that Gross cases. fasterin the Western than alot consummated being were others and skipped were stages some in which a process lead hasto press totalitarian of the ruins onthe model press of Western democratic the to according afreepress regimes; building elite conflict within the power structure. [...] Alternatively, when elite conflict is limited, as in apolitician. or movement a of identity diffused socially the into develops eventually that definition a certain impose and frames explanatory implementtheir typical productions techniquesandroutines incovering events,apply certain parties, beliefs and preferences opposing toward intolerance decreasing than rather toincreasing contribute media often Europe Eastern the make professionalism of lack the with combined imperatives commercial conflict, but more on the level of gossips, than at the level of serious analysis. serious of level the at than gossips, of level the on more but conflict, the of details the and values entertainment involved, actors of traits personality on focus they providelikely movementsto sympathetic which coverageto and the status-quo, challenge in mainstreamstatus quo, support for of terms theirmedia parties;political tabloid aremore differently the domestic cultural climate: the elite media tend to be more aligned with the Ibid 11. See Mazzoleni, p.8. Ibid 163 idem See Gross, p. 162. McLeod and Detenber aver that “the media are more likely to be critical when there is mediamore “the tobecritical likely averthat there are when McLeod andDetenber The two theoretical types of media, “elite media” and “tabloid media” tend to reflect to tend media” “tabloid and media” “elite media, of types theoretical two The 56 58 Whatever informational, educational, opinion-forming or . 35 60 59 Media 57 The CEU eTD Collection of social protest”, Journal of Communication 49 (3), p. 5 61 media for quo thestatus support be tends strong.” to structure, from power the outside challenges anddomestic conflicts caseofinternational the See McLeod D. M. and Detenber B. H., 1999, “Framing effects of television news coverage 36 61 CEU eTD Collection attributed to the general trend of the Romanian print media. There are differences between the between are differences media. There print Romanian the of general trend tothe attributed be is reason behindtitles adescription that of can tocomeupwith eight the selection The newspaper. with one of inthe a local Bucharest publications the of compare agenda the judging by their category, other the from into one categories, oscillating inbetween two the are most the articles. The some of newspapersthe aretabloids, distinguishnewspapers, but themselves others asquality daily newspaper show, As analysis will the newspapers. quality as refer to themselves that others tabloids to from Cluj openly themselves declare from newspapers that profiles, of selection a varied represent also serves as inand Romania circulation with highest titles the the represent from Bucharest publications a control unit, withfrom nationwide newspaperBucharest, from distribution,local and one daily Cluj. The to The corpus of the research is comprised of the articles published on this topic by seven dailies debatesagain. the sparked Peterthat of Hantz actions the it episode, second in the media, while the agenda of first episode, it was the student demonstrations organized by CIB that brought the topic the In on the University. Babes-Bolyai the of profile and structure the about debate the of renewal throughout campusthe of University.the actions These resulted inhis dismissal and the vicethe of inscription toinstall inCIB attempted president with plaques Hungarian in Bolyai Hungarian and Cluj the establishing December2006 University; November, – when itswhen CIB actions first organized and madepublic its ofbreaking-up University agenda the 2005– inepisodes October of event: the two reported of was University Babes-Bolyai the thebreak-up around debate caseof the howthe toanalyze chose Ihave inRomania, relations To answer the how dothemajorityquestion media representations construct group of ethnic IV. Methodology CEU eTD Collection mentioned or if there is a reference made to the internal regulations of UBB. This is an UBB. This of regulations internal the to made is areference if there or mentioned is being institution the of history the on information ifany identify will variable next The found in the reports on the topic. can and fact refers share of be variable that tothe opinion view. several seventh of The points at debatefrom can look the that field ofexpertise from different sources, of several kinds on call to option the have journalists the opinions, their motivate academics or politicians university.Although it beyondis thecontrol of journaliststhe some thewayin which the of break-up the against brought are that arguments the identify will variable next The to keep currentstructure,the orarticles thatincludekinds both opinion. of wantto break-up theUniversity, more including reports points of the viewwantthose of that which the debate is portrayed, are there more articles that show the point of view of those whoin way the is variable Another events. on reports through pictured debate is the extent what to and topic the of analysis in-depth an into go media the do extent what to show will This thematic, view or of item presentingthe is amore general issue. oriented the analyzed event if determine Thevariable will next groups. ethnic whole between the as debate aconflict the extentwhat they behaviorsjournalists opinions, generalize to and describe degree the what Thiswillshow to group. entire tothe ethnic inmentioned areattributed article actions the the variable isweather Thethird value. fact, it noinformation has any to other connected mentioning of ethnicity, by meanwhich I the cases when ethnicity is mentioned, butnot variable theunnecessary follow will The second ethnic between asaconflictpictured groups. degree itwas what andto topicdegree was what politicized the showto article.the will This in mentioned be would one actors first the The tenvariables. include analysis will The content show. will as the analysis share, all publications that features common alsosome are there but show, ways in which each publication chose to cover the events in question, as the analysis will 38 CEU eTD Collection used in reporting on this topic. in identify variable topic frames andwhicharethemost on The lastthe the used reporting will –largearticles. morehad nine than phrases that those and articles article, fourfour between andnine phrases –medium paragraphs or a short phrases those size two than has less that any article considered I items. the of size isthe variable The ninth years. had dominantthat group the powerof institution, the four times150 over decision in last the changed the Babes-Bolyai University since currentthe aspect of debate, the important 39 CEU eTD Collection dominantethnic Since Romanians interchanged group. and Hungarians the respective eliminated. completely almost inwere Hungarian providing education and structures (University Cluj-Napoca) of Napoca” Communist In1984, rule. namethe of University the “Universitateaintowas changed Cluj- institutionsnamewhen the wereunified underthe “Babes-Bolyai two University”, under it renamed 1959, and “Bolyai University”University until co-existed with Hungarian the Southern the Clujremainedpart of of Transylvania,Romania. Itreturned to in that part 1945, part of Transylvania with Hungary and Romanian the University was exiled toSibiu, in acity KolozsvarreturnedArbitrationVienna following toCluj), unified the Northern (rom. the that Daciei (RomanianSuperioare” Dacia). University Upper 1940, theHungarian In of University while a new Romanianmostwith Romania, of who professors the taughtinCluj University the moved to Szeged, of university unification the Transylvania of after In1919, in1881. was namedJozsef University” “Ferenc was founded Austro-Hungarianwhen University aHungarian underthe was and dualist regime founded Babes-Bolyai is history However, in modern the starts today. of University the Cluj 1872, in Cluj, called in institution Cluj,learning wasfounded in same aJesuitcollege, 1603 atthe addresswhere “Universitateahigher first The theof institution. the history account into taking analyzed, beshould critically for framed by toargue arguments thatare thesolutionin otherthe order sideor Romanaproposed one a University the Babes-Bolyai of The History V.1. V. TheUniversity CaseoftheBabes-BolyaiDebate The history of the University shows that the institution served as a marker for the institution served asamarker that the The history University the shows of debates aboutThe of status the multicultural inpost-1990 University the Clujandthe CEU eTD Collection were arguing for its implementation within the current structure of the Babes-Bolyai the of structure current the within implementation its for arguing were Romanians differently. multiculturalism of saw the concept Each side language. minority in of the developmenteducation law guarantee also would that aneducational announced elections, which alsocomprised Democratic Allianceof in the Hungarians Romania, which enjoyed financial from support Hungarian the State. Csikszereda), and (hun. Miercurea-Ciuc collegesinOradea(hun.Nagyvarad) of private establishment the obtain to managed from elites Szeklerland the they represented, regions the of "pure" nature more of ethnically idea the the Based on Szekelyfold). in (hun. Szeklerland in Hungarian by community: elites Clujand peripheriesthe center therepresented cultural within the sides created were andtwo internal differences institutions created also system of nation”. “partner that of status, desired markers such Hungarian as in uponthe university Clujwerelooked as symbols new of the functioned before inits history a way assertingidentity. its of There-establishment of cultural Hungarian minority in saw Transylvania in restoration the institutionsof Hungarian that 1990.The after benegotiated would newwhich University of status the against Babes-Bolyai This thebackground group. was by dominant the implemented cultural was assimilation institutional and regime, when byCommunist the was created is that scenario the pattern institutions. Thethird of delimitations the ethnic by strict peacebeing the order, guaranteed culturalism presupposing cultural separated the existence of in two words samethe social whenin andmono- the aHungarian aform University a Romanian co-existed of University 63 http://magyari-vincze.adatbank.transindex.ro/belso.php?k=44&p=5587 available at in Context,” a Multicultural 62 both ethnic groups. positions during history, same the exiling of practice thenon-dominant wasimplementedby Idem SeeMagyari-Vincze “Battlegrounds Eniko, of Politics:Identity Nationalising Universities In 1996,the situation alliancechanged, winningtheRomanian when political the 62 A was pattern insecond the one encountered periodthe 1945-1959, 63 Hungarian efforts for Hungarian buildingefforts anautonomous 41 CEU eTD Collection 65 64 level, and tomore than 20 at the M.A.level. B.A.morethe increased than at to 50 specializations Hungarian; Hungarian-language the students). of “numerus for Hungarian clausus” students wasdefined at500(13percentof total the number year the 1997/1998, academic Inthe achievepositions. managed academic higher Faculty to lineand Hungarian the made of study Hungarian the improvements to were stabilize. There which he was part of. expressedhis disagreement although with project,the it was by drafted Governmentthe of idea leaders by university. butMarga wasaccepted asaviablesolution, Hungarian the This in Government launched1998 which the idea ofcreating multicultural a Hungarian-German Ministry Education. of wasappointed Andrei Marga, in Cluj, of University the whentheRector morebecame politicized Theissue departments. for separate proposal Hungarian consider the not didbut of character university, the emerged of multicultural from The document stated Academic debates the the Senate administration. academic the in representation proportional have would they and established be would departments Hungarian autonomous that condition the with only project the to agreed They regime. Communist the during suffered minority the that injustices the rectify to please the Hungarian leaders, which saw in the establishment of a Hungarian university a way The inclusionHungarian in didGerman would coexist. notand of Germans the picture the for a decreased because it Project university advocated in linesof instudy which Romanian, Romanian The learningcredibility proposed Hungarian institution.the higherof a separate University, Hungarians while that multiculturalism thought could beachieved byestablishing Ibid Ibid Following these heated debates, the situation at the Babes-Bolyai University began began to University Babes-Bolyai the situation at the debates, heated these Following 65 In the academic year 2005/2006, 18 percent of the students were learning in learning were percentof year In 18 students the academic 2005/2006, the 42 64 A new proposal was drafted by the CEU eTD Collection 66 University. Babes-Bolyai of the status the about debate andwere organized the that demonstrations the regarding their opinions figures stated Transylvania, politicians from Hungary, European academics, politicians and other public actions. Following Romanian these events, leaderspoliticians, Hungarianthe of minority in establishment ofcandles andinscriptions requesting thebreak-upof institution currentexistingand there- the the Bolyai University. InCluj, Transylvanian cities. inof 300 peopleof front acrowd university gathered the with CIB did not make a secretpresided by Laszlo Tokes. out of its views and logistic network of Hungarian the National Council orof Transylvania, an organization its administrative the from benefited they and level international and local the on felt existence (CIB),whichCommittee foundedwas inMay Itdidneed2005. not very longmake time to its Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj.Mostof eventsthe were organized by Bolyai the Initiative the break-up around of debate the tothe and wereconnected November-December 2006 2006 November-December 2005; October Events: of Chronology V.2. its clear announced of goal, re-establishment Bolyaithe the University. another opportunity, Bolyai the was Committee foundedInitiative in May it2005 and waithave theywouldfor 20years because afterwards to another autonomy for until 2007, Orban in 2004in hewhich called minority theHungarian infight Transylvaniaits to for After callmade the state. byViktor triangleand composed theHungary Romanian them, Ibid On the 17 This list sub-chapter will placepresent a that of events the 2005and took in October indeveloped the The Hungarianminority the within Transylvania was of politics th of October, of 2005,CIB organized public infour demonstrations 66 43 CEU eTD Collection Theology Department, Buzogany Dezso, and the program director of the Hungarian Literature Hungarian of the director and program the Buzogany Dezso, Department, Theology decisions taken with the unsatisfied Also and Lehel. Kovacs Hantz dismiss Peter to decision Senate’s in the case of asasignto the motivated protest theirof and gesture from positions their University resigned the two vice-presidentsUniversity. On the 1 of CIB,professors the weredean officially of Kovacsthe dismissed Reformed from fromtheir of Babes-Bolyaithe positions University vice-presidentsexcluded both of HantzCIB, Peter and Lehel the by the academicSenate of action, campusHungarian, the university.the throughout Senate of Asaresponse tothat the the Babes-Bolyai body of the institution. On the 28 On the 22 University. the of consent the without that do to proceed will they Hungarian, in inscriptions ifwarning that leadershipthe of install Babes-Bolyai the not University does plaques with inCommission 2006. issued European by in Reports lastAccession the the agendaof the CIB werementioned from listthe made of requests by international lobby,neither the CIB. Despite letter the nor signature their nameand redrew scientists the some of months Inthefollowing Nobel Prize. university. letter was The signed by scientists,80 renowned some of them winners of the Hungarian autonomous an of establishment the claiming Barroso, Manuel Jose Commission, president European the of andCalin to Popescu-Tariceanu Romanian prime-minister, the letter Romanian overruled tothe Traian andinFebruary, Basescu,sent a president, 2006,CIB were noplaques Romanian. inscriptions languagethan in with Thecomplaints any other were which the in membersDiscriminarii), Combaterea pentru National Consiliul (rom. of Discrimination Against CIB Fight pointed to the fact that, within the campus of university, there At the beginning of At beginningthe November, of vice-president 2006,the of CIBissuedastatementthe This episode wasfollowed by several reclamations made to Nationalthe Council for nd of November, Peter Hantz installed approximately 20 plaques with inscriptionsin Hantz installed 20 plaqueswith ofNovember,Peter approximately st of December, the two pro-rectors of the Hungarian line at Babes-Bolyai 44 th of November, the two CEU eTD Collection publication from Cluj is Cluj from publication years. five last in the times few a policies editorial their changed above cited those from publications changing editorial policies of journaliststhe working inRomanian media. Several is theconstantly cited daily newspapers above the about lack information objective of standardsthe by which respectivethe describe publications themselves. behind The reason the changed. Cotidianul forexists twoyears, has but ateam journalistsof whoworked together for almost 15years. case of behind editorial make decisions to some more newspapers attractive for the public,like in the Libertatea, RomaniaLibera in caseof the be identified can that scenario a ownership, of change wasthe style the mostthe prestigious tabloid inRomania. wasregardedas is newspaperto become andchanged itsa quality a formatthat publication newspaper. a quality now hasof thereputation 73), 2003,p. Romania Coman (see 67 Evenimentul Zilei,Gandul,JurnalulNational,Libertatea Cluj is are: newspaper.Bucharest The alocal newspapers from from Cluj. titlesin published The Bucharesthave nationwide distribution, while onefrom the based in newspapers newsone publication the and Bucharest publishedbysevendaily daily ofPublications and Profile V.3. Characterization Cluj against the decision to dismiss Peter Hantz and Kovacs Lehel. in demonstrated who organizations student by several wereorganized protests December, 2 the on positions from their resigned Emese, Egyed track, For example, For 67 There is nomentionedavailable above, except of official description newspapers the The volume of articles that will be analyzed in the following sub-chapter consists of consists sub-chapter following in the analyzed be will that articles of volume The Jurnalul National In most cases, the factor deciding the radical change of the publication’s content and content of publication’s the change the radical deciding factor cases, the Inmost is a publication that was drastically transformed in 2005, when its in is transformed 2005, when wasdrastically ownership that apublication Evenimentul Zilei Monitorul deCluj . . Other factors involve the commercial imperatives which were which imperatives commercial the involve factors Other . , which as was regarded firstthe successful intabloid . Gandul 45 has ahistory,it short relative only since and nd of December. On the 7 Romania Libera Adevarul, Cotidianul, . The daily Cotidianul, Libertatea th of CEU eTD Collection it presented opinionsitby it issuedonlinepresented views readers,butonly the extreme presented that none inpublications of analyzed. eight the isstressown opinion produce to thethat topicon issue.Itany the not important did editorial journalists theirfiguresby issues public other presented arguments stated or politicians or of and University the status debates about the to stories theirnewspapersanalyzed, devoted Zilei Evenimentul Zilei copies every every copies day. auditedleastitsnot following byBRATand 10.001 it own that just sells at declared, count, University in Cluj ( Cluj in University issue of publicthe organized demonstrations byCIBand the topic of break-upof the the describeand agenda frames usedto the the they subject the that adopted. to the events from several points of view: the printing space allocated to the topic and events,differby sparkedthethat discussions. events the media Romanianprint differently responded Data ofCollected V.4.a.The Display analysis V.4. Content on the circulation of each publication analyzed, please see Appendix 1. 69 advertisingin space printthe press, guide their decisions. 68 sold daily is the Audit Bureau of Circulations in Romania (BRAT) newspaper daily thateach copies of number indicates theaverage that source One trustworthy All the publication are listed in with listed All of exception the chart, the publication are the is BRAT alsoorganizationthe provides by that data which companiesbuy thatwant to and In October 2005,theeightIn October daily newspapers published a 26 articles onthe total of of around theUniversity break-up Babes-Bolyai the episodesThe inthe debate two Romania Libera –10, Romania Libera Cotidianul , the publications that published more articles than the rest of more restof thatpublished articles thanthe the publications , the –2, –5, Adevarul Libertatea Evenimentul Zilei 46 –2, –1, Monitorul deCluj Jurnalul National did publish article one inwhich Monitorul deCluj 68 . For a detailed account adetailed . For 69 –2). –2, Evenimentul Gandul , which is which , – 2, – CEU eTD Collection 71 Although some articles did mention views otherthe ethnic of Hungarians thatdidthe oppose within regarding ethnic group, the theissue of Universitythe in mentioned.Cluj, werenot Cleavages group. tothe entire wereattributed ethnic Hungarian Bolyai Initiative Committee viewsmembers of the of the demonstrators, the of of 26,the actions the out In ninearticles, by introduced “Romanian”. adjective using the was any politician, academic or any other public person whose opinions were cited, 70 minority. Hungarian membersthe of speakingabout made when ethnicity were to exception, references the all Hungariansbeingin was and partidentify protests enough to the ethnicity.With one’s one of mentioning any ethnicity issue. to If labeledwere protesting,they other they were often as the connecting without wereused students” “the Hungarian protesters”, “Hungarian this factbringing any like information. On additional representations several occasions, as being whole the group. ethnic of action identifiedthe focused the actors justthe One on of two article opinions politicians. Zilei institutions. of statements official and politicians academics, of view of points various the presented articles Eleven politicians. mentioned were actors the six articles, other in while mentionedacademics, were actors sole the articles, of 26 the nine, out In academics. mentioned werepredominantly articles, inthestories two The perpublication. actors by CIB, without bringinginto discussion topicthe of status the of Universitythe inmore than in were composed name group. entireof ethnic the that the messages nationalistic using University Babes-Bolyai the against break-upof for the or argued The exception is the article “UBB, disputata online”, published by See “UBB, discutata online” (eng. UBB, debated online) in presented in seven articles the viewsand opinions andstudents,while of academics other Out of 26 articles, in eight of in wasmentionedof of Out of them, ethnicity actors the without 26 articles, eight the organized demonstrations the eventof on the reported only publications the of The rest 71 There was no mentioning that involved “the Romanian students”, nor students”, Romanian “the involved that mentioning no was There 47 Evenimentul Zilei Evenimentul Zilei , 20.10.2005. 70 , on 20.10.2005. Evenimentul CEU eTD Collection just opinions against ethnic the UBB were separation mentioned.of in indebate, of only two arguments inwhich favor which break-upappearedand three the the opinions. argumentsthree for break-up the in University,the had of while 13articleskinds both of in university,of the break-up againstthe only of there werepresented opinions In nine articles action. the opposed some academics reporting otherthe publications of wasthatof ethnic Hungarian students protesting, although in newspaper fivethe frame published the on whichwasdominant topic.the articles the The DAHR politicians thatopposed pblicthe demonstrations andtheagenda of CIB infour of out present in sevenEvenimentul Zilei out of the ten several points of articlesview, with comments gathered from people from both sides. published.in– 4,Romania followed –4), Libera theprotestpresent days the debatethe to from that In five (from In five (from total the of ten) published of articles the by Hungarians. ofthe will the opposed individuals that separate emphasizedbut as Hungarian group, as part were notreferredto larger they of break-up of Babes-Bolyai the the University, Thematic news Thematic by were published in of 26articles. framesthe wereused15out oriented news. tothematic Event preferred In inby describingOctoberof the 2005, protests CIB in organized framingCluj, episodic was Romania Libera beThe samecan of in found five representation two kindof published the by the articles entire ethnic group. tothe were University breaking-up the attributed 2005 theactions ideas about or October, Evenimentul Zilei Evenimentul on topic. on the focused on frame opinions the leaders,of Hungarian the a which was published five articles in which it presented both five inpublished both whichit sidesarticles presented of the Evenimentul Zilei 48 Romania Libera and Romania Libera Evenimentul Zilei used the frame of the (Evenimentul Zilei (Evenimentul Romania Libera on the topic in CEU eTD Collection favor of the break-up; Liberatatea – articleone favor of break-up;the Liberatatea with infavor break-up. of the opinions neutral articles; Jurnalul National – one neutral article and one that presented the arguments in againstthebreak-up;neutral Gandul – –two Adevarul arguments presented articles; two 72 Cluj. Theother publications hadreports presented that opinionsthe sides ofboth published thatonly against articles arguments break-uppresented the the of University the in one article, published in article,one published separating in fewer into University forlines. the Cluj would translate both advantages Only and structure aworking UBB has fact that the taken, actions of the nature extremist the mentions include multiculturalism. open to were not Other or values practices European and contradicting CIB were of actions the that was argument employed most University, Bolyai In thecasesdeclarations whenopinions or astandagainst thattook the break-up of Babes- the mention to the history of the University was made, mentioningmade, aftertheSecond was history the the period University the mention of to made OSCEguidelines tothe minorityof concerning higher issue the education and only one areference was there article In only one andacademics. spokesmen public of politicians, place presentedintook mainlythrough that 2005and events the October through opinions the The debateand noneof them the debated problem from journalist’sthe pointof view. thatoriented event were articles the of most was because facts of presenting the towards inclined also going on aboutUniversity in four Cluj,included only of also the them opinion isof journalist.the This ratio the break-up Out of 26articlesthe publishedin 2005by October eightthe newspapers on topicthe of the of reports. in their used journalists that the Babes-Bolyai Politiciansframework. from andacademics theonly Babes-Bolyai University were sources legal Romanian the to reference made article one only since view, of point legal a from Universitynot tackled The state. subject was choose which opinion to haveto journalists oportunity the was journalists, the of opinions the not the presentedare Although arguments the laws. Romanian Monitorul de Cluj – two neutral articles; Cotidianul – one neutral artical and one that Gandul , made reference to the OSCE guidelines and the existing 49 72 . CEU eTD Collection about entire about ethnic groups. spoke that editorial one and institution were actors the in which two politicians, were actors Evenimentul Zilei wereacademics. actors six the articles, in theother while politicians, were mentioned oriented articles event the since were wereacademics, in thearticles mentioned actors the of cases the In most predominant.in Cluj. Babes-Bolyai the at place took that events the of In topic the on analyzed, threenewspapers of the articles publishes 57 articlesby eight wereIn and 2006,atotal December publishedof Novemberthe by largeone article. article; medium one largeand one published the actors were academics and one in which the actors were were politicians. in actors the wereacademics andone which actors the politicians. wereacademics were inwhichtheactors actors and inwhich one published seven the articles in wereindividuals. which published onthe topic, article one actors only the entire the whichinvolved group. ethnic one academics another and news in which the actors werepoliticians. actors the news inwhich Adevarul National medium; length, of terms In on on 18.10.2005 73 moment they that intowere unified Babes-Bolyai University WorldWar, when twoseparatethe institutions functioned independently until 1959, the In articlethe maghiari UBB”, in published “radicalii dezmembrarea cer Zilei, Evenimentul published two short publishedarticles; two Romania Libera published two short articles; published two Adevarul published articles in ten were which inacademics, actors the four which the published articlesthree in were whichthe individualsactors two and Evenimentul Zilei Evenimentul published three medium size articles and one short article; short one and articles size medium three published Romania Libera Gandul published eightlargeand articles, oneshort one Libertatea Monitorul deCluj published twoarticles in which actorswere the 50 Monitorul de Cluj Monitorul published one large and one medium article; published one short article; published short one 73 . published 14 articles in 14articles which published published one medium and medium one published Gandul Jurnalul National , the actors Cotidianul Cotidianul Jurnalul CEU eTD Collection UBB” on 9.11.2007 andUBB” on on “Razboiul 24.11.2006. placutelor” 75 24.11.2006 and “Separatistii vor placute bilingve” published by Adevarul, on 9.11.2006. 74 cases. those andcontexts how the issue of higher learningin the language of minority the solved in was internal University’s to the regulations. dealsarticles madereference issue. framework that with legal Only this two University the or University. Little attentionHantz toinstall in inscriptionsplaques Hungarianwith thecampus throughout the of was given to discussion, intotopicof attempt of Peter Babes-Bolyai the break-upof the the University background informationagain thatbrought the on events the theirreports focused publicationsThe eightanalyzed such as the history involved. of actors and thefacts statements focused on restof the 45 were of the Out of articlesthe analyzed, only included the opinionseleven also of journalists,the while asagainstthecatalogued Romanian regulations of laws the University.the and against only four articles behavior, they were acting againstEuropean values andmilitating for inter-ethnic hostility. In out radical some wereof their that actions were presented most often act, arguments the way to of the totalIn the articles in which the actions of the twoHungarianof professors were framed as the wrong 56, the professors. actions of defended Hungarian the of actions the and that arguments opinions werepresented there the two members in18articles Hungarian professors; two of the actions accused the that opinions presented of CIB wereIn 29 of the articles, both seven actionsarticles, the mentioned wereattributed entireto the group. sides ethnic of the discourse werementioned represented, without while being nine involved innine was Out of actors casestheethnicity published,the of total articles the of 56 ofconnected them only to another fact or being a key element of the story. In The articles in “Razboiulquestion are publishedplacutelor”, by Monitorul de Cluj on The articles in question were both published byMonitorul de Cluj: bilingve“Placute la 75 74 Only three articles mentioned the European similar European the mentioned articles Onlythree 51 CEU eTD Collection Hungarian. Politicians or academics of expressedHungarian. ethnicity oracademics of opinions their Politicians Hungarian that origins. In the firstwould arguefor achange andin it contextthis was made clear that he/she is of Hungarian part, it was enoughdifferentiate thetwo ethnic Ethnicity groups. mentionedwas when respectivethe individuals to take part in thing was indone nine cases outof the of thetotal 56 articles. This served asatool to demonstrationsbeingwithout another connectedto fact,while inNovember and December same 2006, the to be labeled as in inmentioned out of According count,ethnicity the 2005, 26 articles, was eight October to ethnicity. of mentioning the unnecessary followed analysis of the indicator Another November December2006. and comparing total the number of articles 26in published, October 2005asopposed to 56in by is fact obvious newspapers. This in eight of the wasmore agenda present the 2006) second (November-December the episode most analyzed, publications forappealing of the While in thetopic monitoring firstpartof the the seem very 2005), (October did period not that brought into the debate the question of the break-up of Babes-Bolyai University. episodes of were analyzedvaried two the The eightprovided publications that representations ofdatacollected V.4.b Interpretation article. short articles; Evenimentul Zilei National article; short one and articles size medium five articles, large two published articles; length, of terms In published only one short article; short only publishedone Monitorul deCluj Adevarul published nine large articles, four medium size articles and three small three and articles size medium four articles, large nine published published for short articles and one medium size article; size medium one and articles short for published Gandul published 11 large articles, three medium size articles and one and articles size medium three articles, large 11 published published four large articles, two mediumfour published largearticles, andthree short two articles Romania Libera 52 published three large articles; publishedthree Cotidianul Jurnalul CEU eTD Collection interest at moment,the although this is intendedthe goal of some publications; see p.162. coincidence, rather than an intended result. The media in Romania do not serve the public 77 by Monitorul de Cluj, 29.11.2006. on 76 of persons which were cited with hadaconnection caseandthe their were not opinions majority The claimed. wererightfully rights what was extreme, what for set standards the to having ideas without someexpressed authorities werevarioussittuation contradicting where Hungarianthe minority academics and to from Babes-Bolyai University.a led This only to represented that politicians to guaranteed was coverage say extensive to that One iscorrect the topic. on journalists reporting positionfindorganizationsdid thatnot in of agenda animportant werearguments the the laws andof international occasions the guidelines inRomanian institution. history the of the other three on encountered also was situations existing the that inthecontext especially demands of CIB, belonging. If a Romanian politician apublic was asin person or presented favor for the hisethnic their and opinions their between connection a ethnicityemphasize to politician” Hungarian “the was or as“theprofessor” Hungarian presented in Cluj were University against thebreak-upof the not mentioned. analyzed newspapers tothe appealing more thetopicwas of conflictual potential the that conclusion thematic were using only two or three differentframes to approach the topic may lead to the were that articles those and centered wereevent majority articles the of the that The fact were targeted. “theprotesters” or Hungarian extremists” wereused without specifying which individuals “Hungarian the “the Hungarian such radicals”, as break-upExpressions the University. of the emphasis exceptions,which the was puton cases inwhichethnic Hungarians arguedagainst by is enforcedwhich the minority, for context ethnic the stereotypes of series establish a Peter Gross argues that whatever function the Romanian media fulfills is actually fulfills is a function Romanianmedia the actually whatever Gross that Peter argues jenanta”, published UBBeste Toma:be Atitudinea would“Mircea article One the example 77 . Very few articles mentioned the history of the university, which isparadoxically which university, the of history the mentioned articles few Very . 53 76 This can work as a mechanism to CEU eTD Collection 20.05.2005. used; “Magyars against UBB” isused; “Magyars a againstUBB” titleby published of an article 78 UBB”. against even as“Hungarians more or superficial, rebels” was itmaking influencedsensational.often The debate asa“war”, by“actions portrayed of phrases only had the role of getting the attention of the reader, making the articlestand to out, andquotes opinions both thatpresented side andtheir Thetitle arguments. andthefirst two alsocontained articles the in cases, mostthe of however, institution; the against mobilization ethnic suggestedleads conflictor that had and titles part of articles A significantthe involved wererare. not legislation place, ofpublicfigures valid thatwere UBB or opinions and to references took infrom politicians of academics and which issuewar analyzed. asatug wasdescribed The the University in Cluj was almost absentin the reporting on the eight publications which were figuresHaving implicatednot public in which were topic the about andspeaking issuethe of etc. academics Romanian professors, Hungarian politicians, Hungarian entirely objective: These are key words and expressions that could be found in a considerate part of the titles 54 78 Evenimentul Zilei , on CEU eTD Collection articles out of the total of 82. alsosupported by factthatthe the legal interpretation issueof was mentionedonly in six overall view they could provide the public in better order to understand the debate. This is the sources used was more important in the choice journalists made than the authority and the views of The opposing wasexploited. debate of the character thattheconflictshow to goes the CIB members was responded by the University Senate. This trend in the choice of sources journalist and activist was asked to state his opinion regarding the way in which the actions of degrees in the unfolding of events. There was only one article in which a well known report on the topic were only the politicians and academics that were each involved to various arguments were not further werenot explored. arguments were cited madeby sources references values and butthat the to European practices similar the total moreof then 80 articles that were published on the topic. There were several 79 issue the expand frames thematic in the toinclude orEuropean historical order on guidelines arguments to effort Thereno was matter. connected tothe were that academics and politicians used were problem. Even when thematic types of frames were used to report on the debate, the sources the of a general overview would that present ones, then articles thematic event-oriented As the analysis showed, the topic of the University in Cluj was present in the media i n more journalists. Romanian the of skills professional of and tabloid andthe representations and quality itpublications creates average the kind of arethe topics most tabloidof character Romaniandaily mixedmodel newspapers, the manipulating politicalanymore. actors factors The havethat the potentialinfluence thisto debates,it is important to emphasize that in the Romanian case, the media are notdriven by inter-ethnic involve that events and groups ethnic of representations the at looking When CONCLUSIONS VI. Historical and arguments guidelines European werementioned in fiveonly articles outof 79 . Another issue worth mentioned is the fact that the sources used by journalist to CEU eTD Collection Gross Gross spreadingthat political is information differentfrom spreading multicultural values. The present study is alsoan additional argument tosustain affirmationthe made by Peter topic. 81 National months. published one, respectively three articles on the topic in the combined period of three 80 totheevents.like they Tabloids importance attributed There were also differences between publications in the way they framed the topic and the University institutiona separate higher learning.of if aboutguarantee Hungarian is the thedebate state spoke those that to Romanian the obliged outnumbered University Babes-Bolyai of the profile multicultural mentioned the that Articles without making any tohowwouldreference Romanian the University evolve afterwards. University, Bolyai Hungarian the of establishment the and institution an of destruction asthe framed was Babes-Bolyai University of the break-up cases, the debateof the In most Romanian students. employedThe same werenot practices when of Romanian individuals of on groups reporting without specifying that arealsothere ethnichave Hungarians that differentviews oropinions. in were ethnicto theentireprotesters 2005 took attributed October group, student Hungarian UBB”. Some times the actions of the twoprofessors, the agenda of CIB or the stand that the “Magyars toas“Hungarian inscriptions in or against were referred radicals” Hungarian students”; the two professors that were dismissed after they tried to install plaques with but“theHungarian as students, to notreferred were The protesters story. the aspect of of actors the or the groups involved, even if thisinformation connectedwas not toany other The representation of the ethnic minority was constructed by the mentioning of the ethnicity See Gross, p. 161. Libertatea 80 occupies the second position in this ranking. in this position second the occupies Evenimentul Zilei is the newspaper that has the highest circulation in Romania and Romania in circulation highest the has that newspaper isthe was publicationthe hadmost that the articles publishedthe on 56 Libertatea and Jurnalul National Jurnalul only 81 CEU eTD Collection fulfill,it is done by accident or it is a coincidence. informational, or agenda-setting Whatever role opinion-forming the media educational, might 57 CEU eTD Collection BIBLIOGRAPHY x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x vincze.adatbank.transindex.ro/belso.php?k=44&p=5587 http://www.ejc.net/media_landscape/article/romania/ “Romanian JournalismEuropean Media landscape”, Center, New York. Press, of University Future Cambridge Democracy”, Entman Robert and Bennet Lance, 2001, “Mediated Politics. Communication in the Communication. of Journal 1993, Entman “Framing:Robert, clarification Toward of paradigm”,a fractured Iasi. 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CEU eTD Collection Average number of copies of number Average sold per day in October day per sold Declared selling atleast 10.001 copies per day, following publication's own count 263.534 No data 86.434 71.288 34.794 62.817 38.6 2005 Average number of copies of number Average sold per day in November perday sold www.brat.ro 278.643 32.873 95.945 63.996 15.374 26.577 56.292 2006 Average number of copies of number Average sold per day in December perday sold 33.282 99.532 69.341 15.534 54.727 257.89 27.72 2006